Disclaimer: Anything familiar to JKR's books probably comes from there and is hers not mine. Also, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, the Wizarding World, and anything else that has to do with it belongs to the lovely JK Rowling, not me. I'm just playing in her sandbox and building my own Hogwarts in it.

Chapter Ten

Harry shrunk down his trunk and slipped it into a pocket, gave his room one more look-over, and left to go down to the living room. As he passed the third floor, he saw that almost every door in the hallway was open, the voices of many of his friends whispers in the air as they spoke and finished the last bits of packing they had to do.

In just half an hour, the majority of the residents of Marauder Manor would be taking a Portkey to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters to catch the Hogwarts Express. Last minute checks were being performed, trunks were being put into pockets, and everyone was headed to the living room to say goodbye to Samuel and Amelia, who would be headed to work shortly.

"How are you doing?" Harry asked Euan as he settled down onto the couch next to the twelve-year-old. Yesterday had been quite the day for him, Harry knew, so he wanted to be sure his friend could handle returning to the castle just fine.

"I'll survive," Euan replied, his head rising so that Harry could see his hazel eyes, darker than exactly a year ago but lighter than the night of the attack.

Harry nodded in agreement as he sat back to wait for everyone else to get downstairs before leaving for the train.

…

"Why do we have to go to those things?" Harry moaned as he collapsed into his seat after the Prefect meeting. Around him, Terry, Padma, Daphne, Susan, Justin, Ginny, Maya, Neville, and Hermione found their own seats, all but Hermione, Padma, and Terry sighing in relief.

"Harry, you know that the Prefect meetings are important for us as Prefects!" Hermione reprimanded, but Harry just rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Hermione, they're dead boring," he informed her. "If the Head Boy and Girl could just make the way the information is given out more interesting and do it faster, I might not complain so much. As it is, the meetings take forever and it's all just listed facts."

"Then you'd better do a better job next year," Daphne stated blandly as the other Prefects besides Hermione nodded in agreement, making Harry blink before his eyes widened.

"Yes, Harry, next year you will be Head Boy without a doubt, so you'd best start figuring out how you'll run the meetings soon," Blaise said with a snicker. "Oh, and you'd best convince Hermione to let you run the meetings rather than her, because it appears she doesn't like your thoughts on the meetings."

Harry shot Blaise a glare to make him shut up even as he knew that his friend was correct about Hermione. The look on her face was one of disbelief and hurt, as if his words about how the Prefects' meeting was held were a personal insult even though she wasn't running it. Truthfully, Harry already had plenty of ideas for how to make just the September 1st meeting more interesting, mainly by involving the Prefects rather than lecturing to them, but he knew he would have to convince Hermione of his ideas before it could happen. To the entire school, his year especially, it was obvious the pair of them would be Head Boy and Girl next year, so he didn't even bother denying it anymore.

Harry was startled out of his thoughts by Ginny moving to sit in his lap suddenly. They hadn't really had a chance to talk yet as Ginny had only reached the train at the last minute, and the Prefect meeting started just after the train left the station.

"How were your last two weeks with Dumbledore and his bird group?" Harry asked her, and around him, there were snickers at his name for the Order.

"Annoying like nothing else," she sighed. "Mum had a complete fit for more reasons than I care to admit after the trip to Diagon Alley. One of the main reasons was because Dumbledore placed a spell on both Ron and me to know where we were at all times, so they knew we went somewhere that his spell couldn't follow us. Ron and I told Mum that we had just gone to Susan's house, but we were still grounded for the last two weeks of the summer, which is why we couldn't get on our Journals. We were being watched at all hours by magic."

"Bloody Hell," Blaise muttered, and Harry noticed that Daphne didn't even hit him for his language as everyone stared at Ginny in disbelief.

"The Headmaster is truly trying to turn us against him, isn't he?" Draco muttered darkly, but in the silence of the compartment, everyone heard him easily.

"I don't think he realizes what's truly going on in this war," Hannah commented in reply to that. Everyone turned to look at her even as Harry had to admit to himself that she had the correct idea with that thought. "It feels like he only sees Voldemort and the Order with the Ministry as something helping him but also able to assist Voldemort at the same time, even with Amelia as Minister. He can't seem to understand that Amelia, Samuel, and the rest are actually a third side not working with him but still against Voldemort, using the Ministry to their advantage."

"And because of this, he's going to be completely out of touch with the war, feeling as if he's in charge of the fight against Voldemort when it's really us and the adults," Neville stated.

Everyone was silent as these thoughts sank in. Harry knew that his friends were completely and utterly correct, especially concerning Dumbledore's inability to see the truth in front of him. Unfortunately, he also knew that they would need Dumbledore to agree to stop working against Amelia and the Ministry, possibly even giving them information that they didn't have. That meant working with him as best they could while trying to get around his manipulations.

"On that happy note, why don't we figure out something else to talk about?" Theo suggested with a grin. Harry shared a mischievous grin with Tracey and Ginny before deciding to be evil to take everyone's minds off Dumbledore.

"Like how Blaise and Daphne are dating?" he asked slyly, knowing that at least Terry and Padma hadn't known about that. Plus, it was perfect payback for all their teasing of him and Ginny.

"Ugh, don't remind me!" Astoria moaned, her eyes scrunched up tightly and her hands on her ears. "I'm still trying to get that image out of my mind!"

Everyone, except for Daphne and Blaise, laughed in some form at the younger Greengrass sister as she shuddered at the memory. The former was blushing slightly and at least looked sorry for her sister while the latter was glaring at Harry, who smiled innocently at him in return.

"When and how did this finally happen?" Padma asked with interest, channeling her twin as she did every once in a while if a topic interested her enough. This topic was certainly one that would catch her interest, seeing as everyone had been waiting for it for ages.

Harry and Tracey burst out laughing at those words, and most of the compartment smirked even as Daphne and Blaise glared at the pair. "Oh, I think I see," Padma said with a grin while Ginny nodded at the Ravenclaw. Ginny then went on to inform everyone in the compartment how it had happened, since not even those at Marauder Manor knew most of the details beyond Harry and Tracey pushing the couple into it. By the time the story had been told, everyone, even Daphne and Blaise, was in hysterics at what he and Tracey had done.

Only Brandon Harper, Maya's fellow Slytherin fifth year Prefect, entering the compartment to retrieve Maya for their patrol and to remind the other Prefects that they had patrol shortly calmed down the laughter. "Don't do anything exciting without me!" Maya told the group as she followed Brandon from the compartment, making the Slytherins, Natalie, Euan, and Ginny grin mischievously at the challenge. "Seriously, I want to be part of it!"

Harry snorted as the door closed behind her before he relaxed again, his arms around Ginny's waist as she was still on his lap. "We've really turned so many of you into pranksters, haven't we?" he asked the compartment at large, gesturing to himself, Ginny, and Tracey beside them.

"Pretty much," Natalie, Graham, and Euan said together with matching grins. They all traded surprised looks before quickly grouping together to discuss something.

"And there's the pranking trio that will follow us once I've finally left Hogwarts," Ginny hissed in Parseltongue in his ear as they both watched the group.

"Yup, and they've got the same look as us except the Houses are slightly off," he replied, talking about how Euan was a year younger than Natalie and Graham.

"Hey, we've proven it works quite well," Ginny reminded him, and Harry lifted one side of his mouth in amusement.

"I never said it didn't work well," Harry informed her. "Besides, as long as there's someone with a Slytherin mind in the group, you'll be able to do quite a bit." Harry saw Ginny about to open her mouth to deny that one, so he beat her to it. "You and I both know that your brothers could have been in Slytherin with the way they think, and as much as he denies it, Sirius's upbringing gave him plenty of Slytherin traits when he lets them show. That and Remus is quite the Slytherin when he isn't being Hermione."

Ginny snorted but had to nod in agreement. "And all pranksters have some Slytherin in them," Ankh hissed from his place in his special holster on Harry's right shoulder, making him and Ginny blink before Harry remembered that he was there. He had gotten so used to the weight of his snake on his shoulder that he often forgot he was there. Still, Ankh was a lot of help during prank wars and as a lookout when he needed one.

"Quite right, Ankh; thank you for proving my point," Harry said with a grin in Ginny's direction. She rolled her eyes but nodded to show that he had won that round.

"Ginny?" a voice asked, and Harry looked up to see Colin Creevey in the doorway to their compartment. "We've got patrol right now before the sixth years start their rounds…"

"Right," she said, getting up from Harry's lap. "I'll see you after both of us have done our rounds, Harry."

"See you in an hour," Harry replied as she left the compartment before sighing slightly. "Ugh, now what am I supposed to do until patrol?"

"Read?" Tracey suggested with an amused grin. He raised an eyebrow, and she handed him a book from her pocket after returning it to its normal size. Writing Laws For the Wizengamot.

"Tracey," Harry groaned, throwing the book back at her so hard that she winced as it hit her lap. "Sorry," he apologized, "but you know I'm sick of that book already!"

"What book?" Draco asked, and Harry just pointed in her direction, allowing Tracey to hold it up with a mischievous grin as Theo, Neville, and Draco all groaned while covering their eyes and turning away from it. "Not that book again!" Draco moaned, the others muttering the same thing.

"You are an evil girlfriend, you know that?" Theo asked as he took the book from her, shrunk it, put it into his pocket, and pulled her towards him.

"I believe I've been told that before," Tracey said innocently, and Harry just rolled his eyes before reaching into a pouch on his belt to pull out one of the rarer books on potion ingredients from the library at Marauder Manor. He hadn't had a chance to look at it yet, and he had at least a half hour to do so now… might as well take advantage of it.

…

"Hey, Harry!" a voice called from the compartment to his right as he and Daphne walked around for their patrol, having already broken up at least three fights just by showing up and having told some of the younger years not to practice on their friends without an older student in the compartment more than five times.

He turned at the familiar voice of Rose Zeller, Hufflepuff's second year leader, to see that she had opened the door to her compartment where she and the rest of the Hufflepuffs in her year were all looking at him.

"Yes, Rose?" he asked curiously, Daphne stopping beside him.

"We had a few questions about the HPs…" Rose began slowly, looking back at her friends, who nodded at her encouragingly. "I know that some of the other years have been talking about it as well." Harry looked the group over thoughtfully before making a decision.

"Tell the other leaders to meet in my compartment in…" Harry paused, turning to Daphne as he tried to figure out when he and his friends would be done with their patrols of the train until the second half of the ride.

"Two hours?" Daphne suggested, and Harry nodded in agreement, turning to face the group again.

"Two hours, and we'll talk about anything you're curious about then, okay?" Rose and the other Hufflepuffs nodded. "Now, Daphne and I had better get back to our patrol before Carmichael or Williams catches us just standing here talking and decides to get us in trouble with McGonagall or some teacher for not doing our jobs," Harry said, referring to the Head Boy and Girl, who would do just that, even if it was Harry.

"See you later, then, Harry," Rose said as the other second years called their goodbyes from behind her.

"That's going to be an interesting conversation," Daphne commented a bit sarcastically as they continued down the train.

"Oh, shut it," Harry groaned, knowing that he now had to figure out what he was going to tell the various leaders at the meeting in two hours.

…

Harry was trying not to groan as he looked at the large number of leaders in front of him. His closest friends who weren't leaders had agreed to leave the compartment for a bit to make room as long as someone left a Journal open so that they could follow the conversation. Maya had taken care of that.

"So, you all have questions for me, I've been told," Harry began. "Why don't you all choose someone to ask one or two, and we'll go from there?" The leaders all began talking amongst themselves except for those who had been at Marauder Manor with him. They all knew what his plans for the HPs were, so they didn't need to ask.

"Can you give us a basic idea of what you plan to do with the HPs this year?" Bradley Martin, Ravenclaw fifth year, asked as they all suddenly turned to face him again.

"First and foremost, we're going to test you all to see how well you're still doing," Harry replied instantly, having anticipated this question. "Many of you, especially those who are Muggle-born or those who just couldn't practice much during the summer, will probably be moved around. In fact, we're all expecting to have groups made up of people from various years mixed together rather than by years this time around because of the break.

"Once we have the groups, we're going to review for a few sessions, get everyone back into shape again, before moving on. Other than that, the plan is really just to teach as much as we can until other ideas come to us."

"What does that mean?" Laura Madley, third year Hufflepuff, asked in surprise.

"It means we don't really have a plan of what to teach," Natalie informed her friend as they were in the same year.

"We've got the spells and non-Magical fighting we want to teach you already decided on, but how we teach it and when isn't really planned until just before each session," Susan told her Housemate.

"Last year, most of those lessons were made up right before you got there or on the spot," Astoria added in helpfully with a grin as she obviously tried not to laugh at their shocked faces. Harry knew that they were all trying not to laugh.

"You lot taught us all that almost on the spot?" Tom Vaisey of Slytherin demanded, the only Slytherin leader not among Harry's closest friends.

"Pretty much," was the general consensus among the friends as they all shared looks and nods. "Merlin," was what most of those in front of Harry muttered in response to that, many shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Anything else you wanted to know?" Harry asked cheerfully, snapping them out of their thoughts.

"I was wondering if we were going to go on with the various tournaments like we did during the Triwizard Tournament," Demelza Robins, the Gryffindor who had originally suggested them, mentioned.

"We were actually hoping we'd be able to convince the Quidditch teams into doing another Unofficial Tournament so that we could have some extra games," Harry said with a grin as he looked at Graham. "Draco was planning on bringing it up with the other captains sometime this week when he found them. As for the other tournaments, you just need to put up signs in The Den, and let them happen."

"Great!" Demelza said as many of the other leaders began discussing it amongst themselves.

"Anything else?" Harry asked as the whispering calmed down some.

"Not really, no," Kyle Summerby of Hufflepuff finally said after they talked for a few moments. "If we have anything else to ask, we'll just stop you the next time you pass by us while on rounds."

Harry groaned quietly with a smile on his face, letting them know he wasn't really upset. "Well then, I'll just have to hope you have nothing more to ask until after we get to Hogwarts. I'll see you lot later."

Everyone smiled and began to leave the compartment. When the others rejoined them, Daphne was leading a little girl with black hair and hazel eyes, who looked nervous but also curious.

"She was looking for you, Terry," Daphne explained as Harry looked at her curiously. Terry looked up and smiled at the girl, holding his arms open a bit to let her know that it was fine.

"Who's this, Terry?" Ginny asked as the little girl ran over to him and hugged him tightly.

"Everyone, this is Danielle, my younger cousin and the oldest of her siblings," he said as an introduction. "Danielle, I've shown you pictures of my friends, so you should know them all by now." She nodded while looking around at the group shyly, but with a small, hesitant smile on her face. "I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to introduce you earlier, but my aunt and uncle got here just before the train left, I think, so I couldn't find her until my patrol. I told her to come find me in a few hours."

"Hi Danielle, I'm Harry," Harry said as he moved from his seat to kneel in front of her, holding out a hand for her to shake. She did so slowly, her smile growing as she did.

"Terry told me about you," she said softly, and Harry smiled at her.

"Did he?" he asked, and she nodded. "I hope it wasn't all bad." Danielle giggled while shaking her head. "Oh, phew, that's a good thing!" She laughed at that.

"He told me that you're one of his best friends and really nice even though you're a Slytherin," she said, loud enough for the whole group to hear. "Terry also said you don't like being the Boy-Who-Lived at all."

"Well, he's certainly right about that," Tracey said as she moved to kneel next to Harry. "I'm Tracey, Danielle, and this is Ginny, Harry's girlfriend." Harry turned enough to see Ginny beside Tracey. Danielle smiled at them both.

"Why don't you come sit over here with us and tell us what House you think you'll be in and what you want to learn most at Hogwarts?" Ginny suggested, gesturing to where they had been sitting. The compartment had rearranged itself as Harry had spoken to Danielle, making it so that the girls were all closer to the window and the boys the door.

"Okay," Danielle agreed, getting out of Terry's lap to join them. "I want to be in Ravenclaw," she said as she sat down, and Harry took a seat next to Terry to watch the girls help Danielle relax.

"So, any other family we should know about?" he asked Terry without turning to look at him.

"I was planning on introducing you to my cousins and siblings this summer, but my family got really cautious with the news of Voldemort," Terry tried to say in apology, but Harry raised a hand and shook his head.

"I don't mind, Terry, I'm just curious," Harry told him, turning to face his friend. "We all know that we train more than play most of the time, so bringing them over wouldn't have been the best idea. I'm mostly asking so I won't be surprised next year." He smirked as he said that, and Terry relaxed with a grin.

"I've got three younger siblings, and Danielle has another four," he said. "Next year my brother Michael and sister Tammy are coming to Hogwarts; they're twins. The rest of my family will be coming after we leave." Harry nodded in understanding. "The twins will probably be in different Houses because they're quite different, though not as different as Padma and Parvati."

"That'll be interesting," Harry said, thinking about how different the Patil sisters really were.

"It certainly will," Terry agreed as he watched his cousin and the girls with a small smile on his face.

…

Harry was trying not to mutter darkly under his breath as Mr. Filch, the school caretaker, poked at him with a Security Probe to look for Dark objects. He took extra care going over Harry's pouches, but as Harry knew, there was nothing Dark in them. Still, he could think of many ways that were a lot more effective than that to make sure nothing Dark entered the school, and Dumbledore probably knew them all and was purposely not using them. It was frustrating, but Harry kept quiet while waiting for his friends to pass by Mr. Filch.

"That was so annoying," Daphne commented as they walked into the Great Hall, everyone breaking up into their Houses to sit at the proper tables for the feast. Tomorrow they would be able to sit anywhere at smaller tables, but feasts always had the House tables out.

"There are so many better ways than that probe to sense Dark objects," Draco said as he rolled his eyes. "Anyone willing to bet that Dumbledore just didn't feel like putting those sorts of protections up?"

"Not really, since that's exactly what I was thinking," Harry replied with a sigh. "He probably feels the probe will be better than wards or charms of some sort."

"Unless he has both," Maya reminded them. "I mean, he could just have Filch using the probe for extra security in case someone knows a way around the spells."

"True…" Harry and Draco muttered together. "But it's still annoying," Harry finished alone, and no one would disagree with him there.

After that the conversation mainly turned to more normal things such as who they thought had accepted the Defense position this year, who that walrus-looking professor was – Harry was keeping quiet about that as he knew the man was Horace Slughorn, having seen the memory Daniel and Samuel had collected at least two years ago – how hard or easy NEWT classes might be after their extra training, and what the schedule might look like. The Great Hall was slowly filling up as students passed by Filch and his stupid probe.

Finally, everyone was seated, Hagrid had just slipped into his seat at the Head Table, and Professor McGonagall was now leading the first years into the Great Hall towards where the Sorting Hat sat waiting. Harry turned to listen carefully, knowing that he would not only be getting yet another message but also would be writing down the song when he got the chance.

"The fight is continuing,
Coming is the darkness;
War is not pretty,
Nor is it harmless.
You all shall have to fight,
Though probably not this year,
So keep on preparing,
To be ready when the fight is near.
Take care where you step,
And also what you say,
For you never know what can happen
In both the light and dark of day.
Our Houses are united
After last year's bridge was formed;
Keep them together,
For we cannot allow them to become deformed.
As for you, Chosen Heir,
Your path is to continue what you began,
And to keep hidden and train,
So that soon you may do what you can.
Finally we come to the Houses,
Which are four in number,
And they will welcome you all,
To keep them from slumber.
The brave, fearless Gryffindor
Takes those like him,
Who will fight no matter what,
Even if the outcome may be grim;
The brilliant Ravenclaw
Accepts those who use their brain
For studying and researching,
Trying to gain;
Hufflepuff, the dear woman,
Welcomes all to her home,
Especially the hard-working,
Who try not to groan;
And finally there is Slytherin,
The slyest and observant one of the lot,
For he knew how to be ambitious
And had many a plot.
So put me on;
I don't bite,
For I put you in the House
That will make your futures bright."

As everyone cheered for the Hat and it took a bow towards each House's table, Harry understood that he was to keep his status as the Chosen Heir quiet for yet another year. The Hat also seemed to approve of how united the school had become last year and wanted them to continue. It actually had a point when it mentioned that the connections between the Houses couldn't be allowed to fall apart, because that would make the war that much harder to fight, especially if they were training to work together to protect Hogwarts.

Then the Sorting commenced. Harry clapped as each new Slytherin was Sorted, and he also joined in with the Ravenclaws after Danielle Boot was Sorted there. The Sorting went pretty quickly with how few new students there were; the war was affecting the number as parents kept their children home, just as the first war had made Harry's year smaller than most as many children were killed during it.

"I won't keep you from your meals," Professor Dumbledore told the Hall as he stood, "so I will save my speech for the end. Dig in."

As the Headmaster sat down, food appeared on the platters as it did every year. Harry filled his plate and began to eat as the food cart on the train was never truly filling. There was little talking in the beginning as most people ate, but then the volume of voices began to rise as friends talked around their food or finished.

"So… Does anyone know who that man is up there?" Draco asked, and Harry blinked before realizing who he meant. He had almost forgotten that no one had had a chance to answer that question before the first years arrived.

"Well, yes, I believe a few of us do," Harry said, rolling his eyes as everyone turned to look at him. "Trace, Daphne, Astoria, please tell me you haven't already forgotten who that is? Picture him with hair and less weight, and think about Voldemort's lovely trophies."

"Oh!" Astoria said, hitting her forehead even as Daphne and Tracey suddenly realized who he was. "I knew he looked familiar, but I didn't realize he was that man."

"Who is he?" Theo asked impatiently, and Harry saw that everyone else was looking at them expectantly.

"Our new professor," Harry said blandly, making them all groan at him. "Fine, his name is Horace Slughorn, and he taught Potions when Tom Riddle was a student here." Everyone blinked in surprise as they turned to look up at the man again, everyone used to hearing Voldemort's birth name used interchangeably with his feared one.

"Wait, Potions?" Blaise asked, turning his head to face Harry again sharply. Harry nodded as he began to realize what Blaise meant. "If he taught Potions, doesn't that mean he'd return to the position?"

"Maybe…" Daphne said slowly. "I mean, it's possible he could be teaching another subject because we all know that some people have multiple strengths when it comes to magic."

"But the most likely position for him is Potions, right?" Draco asked, and Harry had to nod. Draco then asked the question on all of their minds: "Does that mean…?"

"It looks like we're about to find out," Tracey said, gesturing in the direction of the Head Table. Professor Dumbledore had just stood up and was waiting for silence.

"Now, as everybody in his Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength," Professor Dumbledore said, and Harry had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at how the Headmaster was just stating the obvious. Everyone knew that they were back, so why bother reminding them all?

"I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe." Harry felt that the Headmaster had just backed his claim that the Hogwarts Protectors were important, seeing as it was the students taking the safety of Hogwarts into their own hands.

"The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer," he continued.

"At least there's that," Harry heard Draco mutter quietly.

"We are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose on you, however irksome you might find them – in particular, the rule that you are not to be out after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others' safety."

Harry had a feeling the students would tell him of suspicious things they noted before even finding a professor. In a way, he felt as if he was in charge of the students, even with the professors, Head Boy, and Head Girl there, just because he was the leader of leaders. Still, that wasn't a bad thing as he was willing to tell people things beyond what he thought they should know to be sure that others knew what he did.

"On a lighter note, we are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year, Professor Slughorn," Professor Dumbledore continued after a few moments of silence. "He is a former professor who has agreed to return to his old post as the Potions Master of the school."

"Potions?" was heard around the Hall by most, but Harry and his friends all shared looks. It seemed they were correct, and they couldn't help but smile up at their Head of House, who always helped and protected his snakes when they needed it. He caught their looks and nodded in their direction. Harry swore he saw Professor Snape's lips twitching slightly, as if fighting off a smile.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," Professor Dumbledore continued over the voices of those talking, quieting them almost completely, "will now be taking over as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

The Slytherins all began to applaud their Head of House while the Ravenclaws accepted it easily, the Hufflepuffs looked hesitant but accepting, and the Gryffindors were shocked, but not totally against it. It seemed Professor Snape's change of attitude toward the other Houses made it easier to accept him, but they still didn't trust him or truly like him except for those who had never known him as anything other than a somewhat biased but still fair enough professor.

Professor Snape waved off the applause, but Harry could tell he was pleased by his snakes' approval of his new post.

"Now, the usual announcement that there is a list in Mr. Filch's office with the banned objects, which now include a blanket ban on all products from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Also, for the new students and the few who need to be reminded, the Forbidden Forest is just that: Forbidden. I believe that is all for tonight, so off to bed. Get a good night's sleep as classes start tomorrow."

Most were a bit shocked by the sudden dismissal, but then everyone began to stand. Maya and Brandon called for the first year Slytherins, and he and Daphne left to go stand by the entrance to the dungeons while the seventh year Prefects went to wait in the Common Room, just in case the other years needed them.

Harry was planning on going to his dorm, writing down the Sorting Hat's song, unpacking a bit with magic, and going to bed. He would need his rest for the first day of classes.

You know, I don't believe getting sick is worth being able to post earlier than normal on a Wednesday… In any case, they're back at Hogwarts, I've done my own version of the first night at Hogwarts, and I've explained a very little bit about what's going to be going on at Hogwarts in this entire story, honestly. I'll talk to you lot on Sunday. Happy February.

Posted: 2/1/12